


a case of revealing voicemails (just the one really)

by reinacadeea



Category: Emmerdale
Genre: Future Fic, M/M, written before Katie's death and therefore before we knew Robert was a douche
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-06
Updated: 2015-02-06
Packaged: 2018-03-10 19:53:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3301550
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/reinacadeea/pseuds/reinacadeea
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Robert deals with criminals and Aaron is caught in the middle as per usual.</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Something suitably dramatic for our fledging fandom. May we come out stronger in the end</p>
            </blockquote>





	a case of revealing voicemails (just the one really)

\--

Part 1 - VIOLENCE

\--

"Who is your partner in crime?" The assailant shouts and Robert covers. 

He wants to be up in his face, but he's scared because Chrissie is scared and Diane and Vic are staring at him with disbelieving eyes. 

"I haven't done anything," Robert lies and his eyes wanders briefly to Aaron, who is watching all of it. Chas is pressed into his side with Cain beside her. 

"It's some well impressive lies you've been spreading and besides - I've got your mate's phone." 

Robert's blood runs cold, easily recognising Aaron's Nokia. He looks up at the assailant and finally recognises Murray behind the black hoodie.

"I know you think I've stolen from you, but why would I lead you right back here? It doesn't make any sense!" Robert tries to say calmly. 

"Because you got careless. You've probably got a bird caught right in the middle of it who doesn't see beneath all your smug lies," Murray shouts. 

"Watch it!" Chrissie says angrily. 

"I guess there is only one way we'll figure this out," Murray says and opens the phone. He looks through it silently while the two other black-clad back-up watches the scene unfold with stoic eyes. 

Robert sees the moment Murray finds the messages from him on Aaron's phone and he probably reads enough of it to understand what exactly that means. Murray's expression gives away his satisfaction and Chrissie sees it too by the way she begins squirming beside him. 

Murray lifts the phone to his ear and he looks like he found the crowning jewel. He probably did and Robert watches his world fall to pieces before him. 

I'm sorry, Aaron mouths at him and Robert accepts it for what it is. 

Murray has found the voicemail. 

"Please don't," Robert says. 

"Too late," Murray says and presses play.

"Look I understand why you're not speaking to me," Robert's own voice is clear as the voicemail plays on. "I get why you think this is unfair and why you left me in London. I was being unreasonable, but we've tried this whole separation thing and we always end up getting together anyway. It's been that way for months and it's probably going to continue like that, so don't try to deny it. I can't breathe without you, Aaron, and what I said to you last night... I don't ever mean that. You know I love you too. Just call, Aaron... Please." 

"Who the hell is Aaron?" Murray says. 

"I can't believe you!" Chrissie yells and one of the thugs forces her back down. 

"I'm sorry," Robert tells her but she turns her head from him. 

"Why would you say you love Aaron?" Chas asks loudly from where she is sitting. Aaron's got a tight grip on her arm. "What kind of sick twisted joke is this?" 

"Do you know Aaron then? Because he's in a shitload of trouble I'll tell you that much," Murray says and wanders over to Chas very slowly. 

Robert can see her realise her mistake. 

"Don't touch her," Aaron bites at Murray who looks startled, but quickly backhands Aaron... Just as he had done to Robert when then Woolie was first attacked and locked down. 

Robert bites his lips and watches the steel in Aaron's eyes double as he touches his bloody lip. He shakes his head at Aaron and he can see that Aaron understands, but he can also see that he won't listen. Aaron listens to Aaron and only himself - no matter how much Robert hates it sometimes. 

"I think it's precious actually," Murray says in sort of manic voice. "I always knew you weren't working alone. You had to have some sort of muscle working with you. I imagine you thought having a bloke at your back was a genius thing. But this Aaron bloke from the sound it is giving you a hell of a rough time from what I could read. He's keeping all of your secret, Robert Sugden. He's got the upper hand here." 

"You don't know what you're talking about," Robert says. 

"So there is something to be talked about?" Chrissie bites from beside him. "Katie was right, wasn't she?" 

Robert doesn't answer and instead sees Aaron getting up very slowly from behind Murray, the two rent-a-thugs distracted by Chrissie. He sees the rest in slow-motion: Chas trying to grab onto Aaron's sleeve, Cain getting up beside Aaron and Murray going down with a pint glass smashing into his skull. The rent-a-thugs react quicker than Aaron expects and it doesn't take long before they've got him down, Chas screaming bloody murder and Cain promising violence. 

"Hello Aaron," Murray says and wipes his bloody fists in his shirt. Aaron is staring defiantly back at him. 

"Just stop!" Robert says and gets to his feet. He tries to grab Murray's jacket, but the thugs holds him back. "Don't hurt him! I'll get it back, all right! I'll do whatever you ask!" 

"Don't..." Aaron coughs through his bloodied face. 

"I'll do what you ask," Robert says again and this time Murray pays attention. 

"Guess we've found our leverage, lads," he tells the thugs. "You won't mind that we take your love with us then? Just to be on the safe side." 

"Please, he needs a hospital," Robert pleads. 

"You should of thought of that when you stole from us," Murray says and directs the thugs to pick Aaron up from the floor. Aaron groans in pain and Cain has to physically restrain Chas. 

"Aaron, I'll sort this!" Robert yells after the thugs dragging Aaron between them.

Aaron's head falls forward and Robert knows he's unconscious. It's probably kinder. 

\--

He needs time to think. Chrissie is shouting at him from one side and Chas the other. It's not helping anyone and he can't focus on what's really important. 

"Would anyone just stop shouting?" Victoria suddenly shouts and the pub quiets down. She orders Robert to sit down and for Chas and Chrissie to step away from him. 

"Do you want answers or not?" she asks the two women. "Robert, I think you've got some explaining to do." 

He stares at her, brain empty but for the vision of Aaron's limp body being pulled out of the pub. He doesn't get to answer either with Ross running into the Woolie and heading straight for Robert. 

"I have a car!" he exclaims and Robert shoots up from his seat and follows Ross. 

"It was Murray," Robert says and Ross nods his agreement. 

"I saw him asking around yesterday. I figured it was just a matter of time," Ross says.

"And you didn't think to tell me?" Robert says as he opens the car door. 

Ross speeds off in the direction of Murray's van while he explains where he saw Murray the day before. 

"I followed him," is the only thing Robert hears and in the end it's all that matters. 

\--

Nicholas Hall makes his appearance while Robert watches Aaron's hospital room from afar, sat by himself and staring daggers at Cain keeping an eye on him from the door opening. He hasn't been allowed to see Aaron since he was brought into A&E and he's restless and worried. He's so buried in shit that he can barely breathe and he couldn't really care less. 

Hall works for the organised crime department at Scotland Yard and has had Robert on his sofa more times than he can count. They shared a bed for a while as well, but Robert's desire for more always set them apart until they had to keep a distance purely because of Robert's usefulness. 

"Do you know how he is?" Hall asks as he sits down beside Robert and gives his shoulder a comforting squeeze. 

"They won't tell me," Robert says and he remembers the day Hall found him and Aaron sleeping beside each other. It's the same sort of sad expression. 

"He was unconscious when I found him," Robert tells Hall. "His face was all bloodied and his fingers. I think they've broken most of his fingers." 

They sit in silence while Hall takes it in. 

"They declared Murray dead an hour ago," Hall says. "It was a bash to the head. You'll have to go to court." 

"I figured. He deserved it," Robert says with a coldness he didn't know he could feel. He barely remembers bashing Murray's head and the only picture in his head is Aaron groaning while slowly loosing conscience. Murray matters so little compared to that. "We were fighting the night before he got taken," Robert reveals. "I told him he was pathetic for giving in to me last week, for still loving me like that. I told him I could barely stand him and that for all I cared it would be better if he just died. I could never mean that." 

"I think Aaron knew that," Hall says. "He's a tough bloke. I think the fact that you're here now is what matters." 

"Yeah, maybe," Robert says doubtfully. 

It's hours later until they hear anything and that's only because Chas finally decides to grace their presence. Paddy had walked by really quickly, probably knowing the exact extent of what Robert had said to Aaron that fateful night. Chas doesn't know and hopefully never will. 

She hasn't met Hall either and only knows about him in sort of abstract terms as the bloke who Aaron is maybe seeing from London. She gives him a confused look to which Hall stands up and shows his police badge. 

"I'm Detective Inspector Nicholas Hall from Scotland Yard," he says. "I investigate organised crime relating to Alfred King and Peter Murray." 

"Who are they?" Chas asks confused. "Are they the ones that kidnapped Aaron?" 

"Peter Murray was one of the main assailants, yes," Hall says. "I'm here to make sure King doesn't try anything as long as your son is immobile. I would like a chance to asses his injuries, if I may be allowed?"

Chas looks suspicious, but finally nods as long as she goes along. Robert wants to follow him, but by the looks of it, Hall doesn't think it's the right time to take up the fight. Hall comes back ten minutes later, looking a bit less worried and pale. 

"He's a bit blue and black, but they've looked for internal bruising and he seems mostly safe from that," Hall tells him and Robert breathes again. 

\--

The fallout is messier than Robert could ever have imagined. Chrissie burns all of his clothes and leaves him with only his wallet and passport. She doesn't allow him to talk or apologize. He doesn't think he can even begin to explain what Aaron means to him or why the deceit grew from an off-hand comment from Chrissie and ended in all of this. Most of the village believes Robert lead Aaron astray and that Aaron had nothing to do with any of it at all. Mostly they are right, but Aaron agreed and never does anything he doesn't want to. The people who love him should know that or they don't know him at all.

He isn't allowed to see Aaron with the Dingles closing rank and Paddy is one of the only people Robert truly respects (purely because of Aaron). If Paddy tells him to stay away, he knows Aaron has been asking for him. 

Hall manages to avoid suspicion and finally gets Aaron alone, leaving him with a cellphone, which Robert answers just after midnight, stuck in Hall's motel room in Hotten. 

"How are you?" Aaron asks before Robert can even get a word in. 

"I'm alive," Robert whispers and locks himself in the bathroom to not wake Hall up. 

"How's the village?" 

Robert snorts. "It's very vengeful as you would expect I suppose. It doesn't matter as much as I thought it would." 

"It never does," Aaron says wisely. "I talked to Nick." 

"Yeah, me too," Robert says and sits down on the toilet. "I think we should do it." 

"I don't want to do it if it just means you're running away," Aaron says quietly. 

"I think it's about something that's a bit more important. I think we need to go away for you and for the trial."

"The trial is important." 

They talk for hours about Robert bashing in Murray's head, hearing Aaron in pain and the absolute terror in watching Aaron being pulled away from him without knowing if he would ever see him alive again. In return, Aaron talks about the two nights he spent in captivity, of the bruises and the meaninglessness of it all. 

"We need to stick together," Robert says and he means it more than he's ever meant anything before. "King needs locking up and we have a chance to do so." 

The day Aaron is let out of hospital, Hall plays interference and Aaron and Robert slips away and out of the country. 

\--

Part 2 - TRIAL

\--

"State your name and your relation to the case at hand." 

"My name is Robert Sugden. I worked as an investor for Mr. King and Mr. Murray," Robert says and stares at the audience watching him from the gallery. It seems like everyone is there - from Chas to Dianne, Chrissie to Cain and Lawrence to Paddy. 

"In what capacity did you know of Mr King and Mr Murray's criminal activities?" The solicitor asks. 

"I was fully aware." 

"Where you placed in this situation by Detective Inspector Nicholas Hall?"

"Yes, DI Hall asked me to place myself in their organisation and become an informant," Robert says. 

"Why did DI Hall approach you specifically?" 

"He had leverage." 

"What sort of leverage?" 

"He encountered me on another case. He knew what I was capable of." 

The solicitor seems satisfied with Robert's answers and they continue their questions. King stands with a stoic expression, but Robert can see his world fall to pieces or rather Robert knows how hard he will fall. 

"Now the events of September 6th, 2015, that resulted in the death of Peter Murray and serious bodily harm to Mr. Aaron Livesy, was a result of a separate feud between yourself and Mr Murray and Mr King. Is this correct?" The solicitor says. 

"Yes," Robert says. "As an investor, I make plenty of deals to further funds and help push whatever businesses forward. Sometimes investments pay off, sometimes they don't and that is how it all works. However, I lost a significant amount of money and King and Murray took it very seriously." 

"So they started targeting you?" 

Robert looks up at Aaron sitting besides Paddy and gathers strength for what to come. Aaron gives him a small nod and he flashes back to them sitting at a caf in Marseilles going over what to say in court. 

"I had to hit back at them and put myself in a position so they would still trust me, so I could continue my work for DI Hall." 

"Why did Aaron Livesy partake in this scheme?" 

"Because he was the only one I could trust to have my back without question," Robert says truthfully. "He had my back as I secured my position and rightfully hid the info I took off of Murray who in particular could get hit if it all came out." 

"So you are saying that on September 5th, you actually had no idea where Mr Livesy had hidden the information Mr. Murray was looking for?" 

"That is correct." 

"Mr Sugden, what is your relationship to Aaron Livesy?" 

"Friends, businesspartners... lovers," Robert says and it feels so completely foreign to say mostly because Aaron is so much more. 

"What does this relationship mean to you specifically?" 

Robert stares first at the judge then sends one last friendly thought to Chrissie before he answers. "Everything. He means everything." 

"Describe to me the feelings that went through your head when you saw Mr. Livesy at Wylie's Farm at the day of the incident." 

"He was lying in a corner... Blood, so much blood. I could barely see his eyes or if he was breathing. Murray was standing over him, facing away from me... I couldn't focus on anything but the fact that I didn't want him to die. I would have done anything... I put him in the middle of it all... It should have been me. I tried to be as silent as possible. I must have gotten something, I can barely remember what... All that was important was knowing that Murray couldn't hurt him anymore." 

"Did you go to Wylie's Farm with the attention of killing Peter Murray?" The solicitor asks. 

"I was angry... But no, I didn't beyond knowing Aaron was safe," Robert says honestly.

"I have no further questions," The prosecutor says and nods towards the defence. 

King's solicitor is a tall black man with a sharp-witted intelligence that Robert has admired since the day he met him for the first time. He remembers thinking that he wouldn't want to be on his bad side. Now look at him.

"How long has your affair with Aaron Livesy been going on?" King's solicitor asks. 

"Does it matter?" Robert says. "It doesn't change the situation, does it?" 

"It might change your motive, Mr Sugden. Please answer the question." 

"Close to a year," Robert replies and hears Chrissie's cry of anger.

"Essentially it has gone on longer than your marriage?" 

"Yes, you might say that. Not without interruptions I can assure you of that." 

"Is it true that just before your wedding your late sister-in-law publicly accused you of having an affair to which you denied all knowledge?" 

"Yes." 

"Then why did you set her home on fire? Are you ashamed or were you just so focused on keeping your dirty little secret that you had to stop her at all cost?" 

"You're twisting everything I say!" Robert says annoyed, but he can see that doubt has been planted.

"But Mr Sugden, isn't that what you do for a living?" 

"Then let me tell you the truth," Robert says, gritting his teeth. "Aaron is the most real relationship I have ever had. He's stood by me when no one else would! He has told me countless times when I've gone too far and I could never be ashamed of loving him. I'm ashamed that I couldn't live without the power or the prestige and that I let my sham of a marriage go on for as long as I did. And that is the honest to God truth!" 

"Sit down, Mr Sugden. There will be a ten minute recess."

\- 

He feels wrung out and angry, pacing back and forward until a hand grips his elbow and forces him into an embrace. He leans into it and closes his arms around Aaron's slightly smaller body. He breathes for a second and just feels the sensation until they can't ignore the world around them. 

"It doesn't feel great, does it? Having your words twisted against you?" Aaron comment softly and Robert rolls his eyes at him. 

"Don't be clever. It doesn't suit you," he says and the smile that traces his lips is probably the most genuine since they landed in England. 

Someone clears their throat beside them. Hall gives them an annoyed roll of his eyes and he shakes both their hands. So much history between them and still somehow it doesn't feel bad or forced. 

Things will be different know, no matter the ruling. Robert will make sure of that.

 

End (1-6-15)


End file.
